1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention is related to a reflective collimator assembly for guiding light from a light source. More specifically, the subject invention is related to a reflective collimator assembly for guiding light from lamps on automobiles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, incandescent or halogen bulbs are used for vehicle lamps, e.g. turn signal lamps, brake lamps, low beam headlight lamps, high beam headlight lamps, etc. More recently, automobile makers have begun using light emitting diodes (LEDs) in automobile lamps for increased efficiency and reliability purposes. However, typically a collimator is required to guide the light emitted by the LEDs.
One type of collimator is a non-focal optics based collimator. The disadvantage of this solution is increased collimator depth, which leads to increased material consumption, increased material costs and increased mass on the vehicle. Moreover, such a collimator requires a large amount of manufacturing time and effort for press-cooling to prevent unequal material shrinkage. Even further, such collimators only guide the light in one direction and do not allow the light to spread over wide angles. Therefore, the light source is not visible over a wide range of viewing angles. This is particularly disadvantageous when used in a signal lamp of a vehicle.
There remains a significant and continuing need for improved collimators for guiding light.